Climate and coastal protection

Objectives

The Climate and Coastal Protection Challenge addresses the desk-based database exploration, characterizations and assessment in order to calculate parameters such as annual change in sea temperature, annual sea level rise and sediment mass balance over the Mediterranean basin.

Time series for sea surface, mid-water and bottom temperature, sea energy and sea level for the past 10, 50 and 100 years.

Report on the existence of datasets, their availability, consistency and resolution for producing sediment mass balance parameters.

Methodology

First, an extensive literature review was carried out to determine the available datasets, their documentation, cost agreements, sources and appropriateness to derive the targeted products, among others. Second, each Challenge partner used the selected datasets to produce the specific parameters related to sea temperature, sea energy, sea-level change or sediment mass balance. Once these parameters have been obtained, spatial data layers and time plots have been produced for both, the sea basin and NUTS3 regions.

Data Sources

A wide range of data types and sources were identified and reviewed for the challenge. The primary sources of the larger datasets were: PSMSL, CMEMS, AVISO, HADISST or EEA. Additionally a detailed survey contacting National Coastal Agencies and Experts and two scientific literature reviews[JS1] have been carried out to establish and justify the lack of data on sediment mass balance.